Don's talk was about the incredible costs and the UP FRONT MONEY that is
required BEFORE the Antarctic DXpeditions leave home, NOT about any money
needed/required for QSLing. IF you divide the total cost by the number of
Q's, historically it has been just shy of $5/Q. It will be MORE in the future!
If you know of a banker that will loan $500,000 for a DXpedition, who doesn't
charge interest and might get most of it back years later, PLEASE let
DXpedition leaders know!
Even the mega-mega Dxpeditions never see $40-45,000 in QSL income, which isn't
even a deposit for the deposit! and it is after the fact.
The take home point: There has never been a time when your
contributions/memberships to organizations like NCDXF, INDEXA and your DX Club
have been more important.
73
Glenn W0GJ
-Original Message-
From: kf...@njdxa.org [mailto:kf...@njdxa.org] On Behalf Of Crownhaven
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 6:21 AM
To: Joe Subich, W4TV
Cc: dx-chat
Subject: Re: [DX-CHAT] DX-PEDITIONS FOR US POOR FOLKS?
When was the last time a DX operation was disqualified for QSLing practices?
Seriously.
Steve, N4JQQ
Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
On 5/20/2012 9:14 PM, Crownhaven wrote:
However, any operator has the right to set his own rules for QSL
cards, etc. And the rest of us have a choice as to whether we want to
abide by those terms.
Absolutely not! No operator has a right to discriminate in his QSL
policy or hold the QSL hostage in return for a contribution in
excess of the cost of mailing that QSL. To do so is de facto grounds
for disqualification under DXCC Rules (12 d):
d) Blatant inequities in confirmation (QSL) procedures. Continued
refusal to issue QSLs under certain circumstances may lead to
disqualification.
Any large DXpedition can - and should - seek individual contributions
before the operation. I would argue that they have a right to cancel
an operation if the support goals have not been met. However, the
policy of not uploading logs to LotW for six months or a year after a
DXPedition, not sending bureau QSLs for six months to a year after a
DXPedition and policies of not mailing QSLs to non-contributors until
after the end of the calendar year should be loudly and roundly
denounced.
Given the ease of uploading QSOs to LotW - after all it is no more
difficult in uploading the raw logs to ClubLog daily which has become
standard practice for most major DXpeditions - there is *no* valid
reason for not uploading the raw logs immediately after the operation
if not daily during the operation.
73,
... Joe, W4TV
On 5/20/2012 9:14 PM, Crownhaven wrote:
I'm thinking we all can make the choices we want to make. In terms of
DXpeditions costing a lot of money, if you can't take the heat, stay
out of the kitchen?? However, any operator has the right to set
his own rules for QSL cards, etc. And the rest of us have a choice as
to whether we want to abide by those terms. Let's call it free
enterprise. We're beginning to sound likeI won't say it here.
Steve, N4JQQ
Zack Widup wrote:
First off, great presentation Don!
I thought it gave a great perspective of what these icebreaker
DXpeditions and others to exotic places cost. Someone has to pay for
them. The operators on some DXpeditions often bear a great deal of
the cost themselves. I know a few people who have gotten involved in
a DXpedition without knowing what it would cost them personally.
They put forth an amount of money that hurt them personally
financially, hoping they could get at least some of it back. Some
didn't - they have not been on a DXpedition since. Live and learn, I
guess. And our loss when a fine operator can't or won't go on another
DXpedition.
I know some of the people who were on the VP8ORK DXpedition. Some of
the fees they had to pay were downright weird - and sounded
exorbitant to me. But what are you going to do? Refuse to pay a fee
to get your equipment out of storage? You would be in a bad position
thousands of miles from home, trying to meet an expedition timetable
and unable to speak the language of the country, trying to negotiate
with those people.
If you want the DXpedition, if you want it there for you to work, it
seems only right to me that you voluntarily contribute what you can.
Not that it has to be $5 per QSO, but every little bit helps.
None of the DXpeditions I wished to have confirmed recently have
demanded any fees for QSL'ing. But I do voluntarily send them
something. I hope it helps just a little. If enough people do that,
it increases the chance that they will go on another DXpedition to a
rare place in a few years.
And I agree - if the DXpedition so chooses to send out confirmation
to contributors first, that is their choice and it doesn't mean that
non-contributors are not going to get their confirmation. If you had
to wait for 20 years for an entity
